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This Week in Health & Medicine

24th February 2017

A small group of medical students protest outside of the Cleveland office of Sen. Rob Portman to speak out against repeal of the Affordable Care Act without a replacement plan, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017, in Cleveland. The protest was coordinated by Protect our Patients, a grassroots movement of about 4,700 medical students who oppose the repeal of the ACA, or Obamacare. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Aaron van Dorn

New York office, The Lancet

This week in health and medicine news from The Lancet USA, a draft of the GOP’s ACA replacement has leaked, immigrants are avoiding hospitals out of fear of ICE raids, and drug overdose deaths have tripled since 1999.

Leaked Draft of GOP ACA Replacement

A leaked draft of a proposed Affordable Care Act replacement obtained by Politico shows an evolving process, according to Sarah Kliff at Vox. The leaked bill bears a lot of similarities to now-Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price’s Empowering Patients First Act. Like that proposed bill, the draft proposal still depends largely on high-risk pools and replacing the total ban on preexisting conditions with a more consumer-friendly version of the continuous coverage plan proposed by Price. The draft would also ditch the ACA’s Medicaid expansion without replacing it. It’s unclear if this bill reflects the GOP’s current thinking, or could receive enough votes from GOP lawmakers to pass. (Vox)

Immigrants Avoiding Health Care for Fear of Deportation

With President Donald Trump rescinding the Obama Administration’s previous criminal-first guidelines on deportation of undocumented immigrants, many immigrants find themselves avoiding health care at clinics and hospitals for fear of being caught up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. There has been no evidence that raids have been undertaken at hospitals, but rumors about raids at Brooklyn hospitals last week caused several patients to cancel appointments, according hospital spokespeople. But not all of the rumors are unfounded: last week, ICE agents in Virginia did pick up six homeless men utilizing a church’s hypothermia shelter. (STAT News, NBC)

Overdose Deaths Have Tripled Since 1999

Drug overdose deaths in the United States have soared, rising from six out of every 100,000 in 1999 to 16 out of 100,000. A major driver has been the rise in opioid abuse, especially among white and middle aged Americans, accounting for half of the rise. Adults aged 45-54 years old had the highest rate of overdose death, at 30 out of 100,000. The rise in overdose deaths in whites has been 7% a year, compared with 2% in African Americans and Hispanics. (CBS)

Bipartisan Senate Change to ACA Would Expand Access to OTC Medication

A bill sponsored by a bipartisan group of Senators has been proposed that would enable consumers to use health savings account (HSA) or flexible spending account (FSA) funds to purchase over-the-counter medications. Ninety percent of Doctors recommend and ninety percent of patients prefer to treat with OTC drugs prior to seeking medical attention, and every dollar spent on OTC drugs saves six to seven dollars for the health care system. The Affordable Care Act removed OTC drugs from purchase eligibility with HSAs and FSAs. (The Hill)

Trump Administration Signals Coming Legal Marijuana Crackdown

This week, Trump Administration Press Secretary Sean Spicer signaled that the Department of Justice would likely begin increasing enforcement of federal marijuana prohibition, even in the eight states and the District of Columbia that have legalized the $6 billion industry under the Obama Administration, which largely deferred to state law regarding marijuana policy. The shift would expose a tension for new Attorney General Jefferson Sessions, who is a vocal supporter of states right, and an avowed critic of marijuana legalization. (Bloomberg)

Owning a Cat Not Linked to Mental Health Issues

A study following 5000 people born in 1991 and 1992 until eighteen has found no evidence that owning a cat during pregnancy or childhood had any impact on mental health issues as people grew. Mental health and cats have been linked popularly due to cats being the primary host of toxoplasmosis, which has been linked to schizophrenia. (Psych Central)